A post on social media can reach all corners of the world. Social media has given rise to a handful of people whose following rivals that of celebrities. They are not your ordinary users. They are not on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter to post their day to day activities. Instead, they have created a schedule of posts in the form of blogs, images and other media that populates their follower’s newsfeed to educate, inform and be helpful. They are the ones who are considered to be leaders in an industry, a popular topic, or a product expert. 

Influence is often interchanged with popularity. To some degree these two are intertwined but not necessarily the same. It is not always about the number of followers that you have. It is the value that you are providing to your followers. For you to be able to sell yourself, and move your business to greater heights, it is important that you find your key influencers, engage with them, and make them one of the instruments to your business’s success. 

What is an influencer?

Influence is defined as the capacity to produce effects on the actions, behaviour and opinions of others. An influencer is a person or an organization whose knowledge, opinions and insights inspire others to do something - subscribe to an idea, change their viewpoints, buy a product, etc. It has been said that in order to find a leader, you have to look for followers. In Social Media, influencers draw followers to their channels. These followers like, share and engage with their posts as well as use their content to solve their daily pain points and influence their decisions. Below are a few of the many tools that can help you in finding your influencers.

Klout

This tool is able to extract social media presence and activities. This is the initial tool that most people use in order to check their influence in social media. It allows the user to simply type in a keyword, and get a list of posts and top influencers. Try using different keywords relating to your industry. Using key phrases are also helpful to narrow down search results.

The deal maker with this tool is the Klout score for a user’s profile. The Klout score ranges from 1-100. This number is based on engagement gathered from all of the social media profiles that are connected to your Klout account. Klout is a good measuring tool, but you don’t want to solely rely on it. It is recommended that you use Klout along with other tools.

Buzzsumo

Buzzsumo is one of the most important platforms in finding the most relevant content in your industry and the infuencers who are talking about them. Buzzsumo asks its users for a keyword or a keyword phrase. The system then generates a list of 'Top Content' and Influencers. the results are based on the number of times a piece of content is shared throughout top social media platforms.

Topsy

Influencers are up there for a reason. They are responsible for the most popular topics that went to trend. What does this mean for you? Find posts that are relevant to your niche; then identify who they are from. Topsy is a tool that can let you find the most popular topics that have ever trended on Twitter. It is able to analyse through billions of tweets by directly searching through them. All you need to do is put in a topic of a post that you want search in the keywords section.  

Blogs

Anyone who wants to create influence across social media should blog. Influencers do not simply rely on one-off viral content. They develop quality content consistently. Top influencers around the world have had blogs for a while now. A number of them have been blogging before everyone else became ‘bloggers’. 
Engaging with your influencers by leaving a comment on their blog is a good place to start. Leaving meaningful comments or good questions to blogs offers you the opportunity to form a relationship with your influencers as well as connect with other individuals with the same interests.

Live events

Even in this digital world, live events and functions where like-minded people gather are still one of the best venues to identify and meet the influencers in your field. Live events are a place where people gather who share the same interests. When attending such events, aside from promoting your own company, be interested in what the influencers are interested in. You have to be interested to interesting. 

The Task at Hand

Consistency is one of the most important components to success. In finding your influencers, you don’t stop when you’ve found one. You need to go out there and get more. Identify the most relevant players in the topics and conversations that you want to share with the world. Connect with those influencers who do not have the same campaign as yours. Continue to create content that will engage both your influencers and followers. 

About the Author

 

About Mary Stephany Alquiza

Stef is a writer, a teacher, a fan of sassy lines and most of all, a mother. She has watched countless reruns of the show Friends and identifies herself as a Monica.She reads with her son during her free time. She's a belever that grown-ups can still wildly dream; and that anyone if they fight hard enough, can make their dreams come true. She feels she's about to reach hers.